Dating : 作业

Critical realism is a type of literature emerged during the 19thcentury, responding to many of the injustices that existed in Victorian England. In this essay, I want to explore the themes of morality and justice relating to Tom Hardy’s workTess of the D’Urbevilles.

Tess was an innocent, good-looking, trusting, forgiving but miserable woman. She was raped by Alec, an evil and possessive man. She became an unwed mother but lost her baby sooner. Later she met someone who she thought of a true love — Angel. On hearing his confession, she forgave Angel for stepping out on her. Because she didn’t think that the past had anything to do with the present and their love. Such a woman with a tolerant heart. However, Tess’s confession that she had been raped and pregnant made Angel piss off. He couldn’t accept her thus abandoned Tess and turned against her with harshness. Love and genuine frankness didn’t even worth the forgiveness from a person who did something wrong spontaneously. He treated her suffering and misery as despicable acts. Shame on him and sympathy for Tess.

She was physically and mentally hurt by demons. Alec, the one she suffered from. Angel, the one she loved. And the ‘righteous’ society, the one failed her.

She couldn’t bear any second to live under torture so she chose to kill Alec and ran away with Angel, since he realized that he was far too cruel to Tess. And of course, again, she forgave Angel. The will to believe in bright and good never left her. Be that as it may, good people were always likely to be sinned against by fate. She was hanged because of her killing. And indeed, she was wrong to kill a person, but morally, she was right. She just killed someone who tortured her, out of self-defense. She just wanted to be released, any second now. The society never protected her form pain and torture, neither punished the bad guy. Otherwise she wouldn’t have had to kill Alec. Ironically, the society killed her due to her killing a devil who brought her hellish nightmares, just to act ‘justice’.

More devils like Alec were at large. Pain was uneased. Suffering was not lifted. Justice was undone.

The themes of works during Victorian period like Tom Hardy’s epic Tess of the D’urbevilleswere always about injustice, morality, power, etc. So that we can roughly have a quick peek through this one to understand critical realism.